by Ricky Greenwald Haworth, 2005

This book is written for anyone working with trauma-exposed children and adolescents.

For mental health professionals, it provides a detailed step by step treatment approach.

For others, including educators, child welfare workers, direct care staff, juvenile justice workers, prevention workers, and parents, it also provides information, theory, and specific, practical guidance on what to do and how to do it.

The content and methods are research-supported and proven effective. The style is informal and clear, with an emphasis on hands-on skills.

What people say about the book:

"The last three decades have seen dramatic changes in our understanding of child development and our conceptual and methodological tools for dealing with childhood problems. One of the most important of these changes is our growing appreciation for the central role played by trauma in the lives of troubled kids. Ricky Greenwald's Child Trauma Handbook is A MAJOR CONTRIBUTION to these efforts.

In language that is clear and accessible to a wide range of clinician-practitioners, he has translated research and theory into comprehensible and pragmatic tactics for recognizing and dealing with the developmental consequences of trauma in the lives of children. Without polemic, he exposes the gaps in traditional therapeutic approaches as well as in “common sense” when it comes to an effective response to child trauma (for example, the naïve assumption that a simple approach of “processing trauma by talking about it” without preparing the child with cognitive tools for managing arousal is naïve and often counterproductive).

His approach is respectful, both for the child client and the adults in that child's life (parents and therapists, for example). Grounded in his understanding of the research on trauma and his clinical experience he offers up A POWERFUL LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR THE READER."

"The title Child Trauma Handbook raises high expectations. This book is not just one more comprehensive practical treatment guide. It is the most elegant combination of hands on and up-to-date scientific information, of great didactic value and FUN TO READ... a most wonderful gift.

Each and every aspect of the handbook is up to date. The clear explanations and didactic illustrations show the decades of therapeutic experience with complex traumatized children and adolescents that has gone into it. The book's structure is HIGHLY EFFECTIVE FOR TRANSLATING MODELS AND IDEAS INTO HANDS-ON THERAPEUTIC WORK."

"This is a fascinating book on how to respectfully approach and treat traumatized children. But it is so much more; it shows how to build on underlying health and strengths in both children and their caretakers. It is A WELL OF CLINICAL WISDOM presented in a very user-friendly step by step frame. It is indeed an empowering book!"

“Dr. Greenwald's new Child Trauma Handbook is a practical guide to trauma-informed therapy with children and teens and the families who care for them and may be traumatized themselves. Written to accompany training on the topic, all practitioners will find this book EASY TO READ AND APPLY IMMEDIATELY.”

William Yule, Ph.D., F.B.Ps.S. Professor of Applied Child Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London

"This timely text argues that exposure to traumatic events can both precipitate and exacerbate many common childhood disorders and manifest in adolescence in a variety of conduct problems. Without taking a proper trauma history and directly addressing the effects of such trauma, most contemporary therapy approaches are doomed to failure. Children and adolescents deserve effective, evidence-based interventions, and this text blends findings from motivational interviewing, trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy and EMDR in a practical, sensitive and client-acceptable way.

The text results from many years of creative clinical work with children and adolescents. The active style developed with the children is replicated in the workshops devised for therapists, and the text can be used as a basis for peer-group learning. It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED for all child mental health therapists who are truly dedicated to making a difference to the lives of young people."

"The BEST BOOK I'VE READ on clinical treatment of trauma... a required textbook for my interns... [Dr. Greenwald has] provided a primer that is immensely practical, useful, readable and engaging. Although I read the book with my interns in mind, I found that I learned a tremendous amount for myself even though I have over twenty years of experience working with traumatized children."

"My students are very appreciative of the clarity of this book. The ONLY PROBLEM is that the book is selling so fast in the bookstore -- word of it has travelled around campus and people from other classes are buying it. The bookstore has restocked several times, and some of my students have still not been able to get their own copy."

PsychCRITIQUES—Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books

“A COMPREHENSIVE, WELL-INTEGRATED, PRACTICAL SYNTHESIS OF THE LITERATURE that is combined with Greenwald's own extensive clinical experience... Presents an EXCELLENT standard of psychotherapeutic care and an optimal set of training principles and techniques that are necessary for its mastery and delivery... Provides a basis for hope, then belief, and finally coping skill mastery that teaches the client that the original traumatic injury or loss can be overcome... Greenwald's clinical teaching style and therapeutic training methods are EXCEPTIONALLY CLEAR, EXTREMELY PRACTICAL, BEHAVIORALLY EXPLICIT, RATIONALLY EXPLAINED, AND CLINICALLY WISE... Greenwald's methods are well validated through his own research studies... They have proven to be effective in clinical practice when they have been implemented by others who have applied his treatment model... AN EXCELLENT RESOURCE for graduate student training and for self-study by practicing child clinicians who want to learn the latest and best techniques in this complex and difficult treatment area.”

Psychiatric Services - A journal of the American Psychiatric Association

"STRONGLY RECOMMENDED... [This] fascinating, integrated approach should be part of every child and adolescent therapist's treatment repertoire. Children and their families... will benefit greatly by this book."

Doody's Book Review Service

"5 Stars! A PHENOMENAL HANDBOOK... Simply put -- this is THE ESSENTIAL HANDBOOK for working with traumatized children and adolescents. If there is one resource, one guide that you buy this year, make it this book."

Home Study for Professional CEUs:

Mental health professionals can earn 18 CEUs, 12 EMDRIA CEs, and PC Credit with TI/CTI's Home Study Program, which includes the book.